VISTA (CNS) - A man who fatally stabbed a woman in an Oceanside shopping center parking lot after she refused to give him money was sentenced Monday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Eric Russell Andreasen, 39, was convicted in March of first-degree murder, and jurors found true a special circumstance allegation of murder during a robbery in the death of 54-year-old Katherine Parker, who was in town visiting relatives.
The same jury decided that Andreasen was legally sane when he killed the victim.
A defense attorney argued that mental illness -- schizophrenia -- drove Andreasen to murder Parker on April 3, 2009.
In his closing argument in the sanity phase of the case, defense attorney Dan Segura told jurors that Andreasen had psychotic episodes and religious-based delusions.
But Deputy District Attorney Roy Lai said Andreasen was motivated by anger and was mad when the victim refused to give him money. Lai said. Andreasen had a history of approaching female strangers and demanding money, the prosecutor said.
Parker had just walked out of a Hallmark store in a shopping area on Vista Way when Andreasen grabbed her from behind and slashed her in the face, neck and stomach with a knife. She was airlifted to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Parker lived in the town of Lincoln, near Sacramento, and was in the North County to visit family when she was attacked.
